Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Things I wrote for school...When Death Wore a Suit

The Plague Suit

Most of us are aware that the Bubonic
Plague, because of fleas and carried on the backs of rodents, spread
throughout Medieval Europe and killed a lot of people. Since cats were being
killed at the time due to their obvious ties to witchcraft, nothing stood
between an unknowing populace and the Black Death. Deathships full of people
dead or dying from the plague and their accompanying insect populations brought
disease to all reaches of the ancient world and people led by superstition and
ruled by fear didn’t know how to conquer it.

Plague physicians were specifically hired
by towns in time of epidemic. Treating both the rich and poor, they weren’t
usually actually trained doctors, rather young or crappy doctors that couldn’t
otherwise find work—sometimes even fruit sellers who wanted to make more money.
Being a plague physician was lucrative work since real doctors fled as the
plague traveled, knowing nothing they could do would stop the death toll from
rising.

In this era, they believed that the
plague was being carried by birds so these doctors often wore a mask shaped like
the beak of a bird. Red glass eyes peered out of the creepy beaked mask to further dissuade evil from
conquering the fake docs. The plague attacked the glands, so the doctor would cover the
neck and face with fabric or the mask. The beak of the mask could be filled with flowers or other
sweet smelling things to protect the wearer from the reek of death which would make
them sick. Protected from the "miasma," they’d cover their robes with suet to
further keep disease from bringing them as low as their patients.

Plague doctors were allowed to preform
autopsies—not allowed at the time for any other practicing medical professional
since it could be considered witchcraft—to try to find a cure. They carried a
cane so they didn’t have to touch the bodies of the sick and to help repent the
ill from their sins. Although sometimes used to point family members in various
directions, they would poke or beat the sick with the cane also, since this was
a possible cure and it allowed the doctor to avoid close exposure to the
sickness.

Aside from beating the evil
out of the sick, they could also practice bloodletting and putting frogs on the
humors to attempt to cure their patients. The image above is a 1656
engraving done by Paul Furst called the Doctor
Beak of Rome (Wikepedia) which included the traditional fitted and wide brimmed black
hat to identify the doctor, the gas mask full of herbs shaped like a bird, the
red glass eye pieces to ward off evil, the black overcoat, the cane and the
waders. To modern times, the mask is still a sign of death and is popular in
many parades.So, my readers...picture a person wearing a giant beak peering at you with red glass eyes wearing a long overcoat and beating the sick out of you.